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Ubisoft Unleashes Free Games [Updated]

Far Cry, Prince of Persia, and Raving Rabbids now available as free downloads ... supported by in-game ads.

UPDATE:Ubisoft has closed the free games promotion for the time being. If you haven't already activated your free game install, it won't work. We'll have more news on these games if and when they become available again. Here's the official word from Ubi:

The Ubisoft Labor Day promotion for US residents only making the PC games Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Far Cry, and Rayman Raving Rabbids available for ad-supported freeplay has now closed. Thank you for your interest in the program. For more information about these and other Ubisoft titles, please visit http://www.ubi.com.

Original news post follows:

Late last week Ubisoft re-released a handful of classic titles as free downloads. Gamers in the U.S. can now download the full versions of Far Cry (single-player), Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, or Rayman: Raving Rabbids. The re-released titles are supported by in-game advertising, which shows up in the menus and loading screens as you play.

[Download links removed]

With the exception of 2006's Raving Rabbids, the free games are three or four years old. However, the titles were highly reviewed (Far Cry: 4.5 Stars - Prince of Persia: 4 Stars) and represent some of Ubisoft's biggest franchises.

The use of in-game ads allows Ubisoft to generate some revenue from back-catalog titles, while giving gamers the option of either buying the game outright (Far Cry and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time are available for $10; Raving Rabbids is retailing for $20), or of downloading them for free and watching the ads. If the experiment pans out, we expect to see more classics from Ubisoft coming online as free downloads... and other publishers to follow suit.